I've been shooting for a long time, switched to fully digital and then came back to film for personal stuff. I have a bunch of fun vintage gear in my collection from the 1950's and enjoy using stuff like my Nikon rangefinder gear etc. Love shooting with my Leica M2 as well as an OM-2n.
Recently I bought a F5 for cheap to try using my collection of modern glass I use with my D4. I have some really nice modern f1.4G primes, as well as good zooms with VR and wanted to try using them on film. I have been impressed with the F5, and have found being able to free myself from worrying about exposure, and even focusing, is a liberating shooting experience. I went out this past weekend with my F5 and a 85mm f1.4D and was blown away with the results. There are a few things about the F5 that still feel distracting in use, mainly the poor implementation of displaying the focus point in use, so I pulled the trigger on a "EX" rated F6 from KEH. The idea of a smaller format version of what the F5 can do, with some other improvements, makes me feel this could be something that fits what I want from a user film camera, something that takes care of the things I don't need to be dealing with and can focus on capturing images. I can see using this with a 24-120VR being able to cover almost anything, plus opens up using cool glass like my 58mm f1.4G, 105mm F2 DC etc. Being able to use iTTL flash is also very appealing as I've learned how great/easy that can be to using a flash.
I know this in some ways feels contrary to the whole analog experience of shooting film with a Rolleiflex or even my M2, but I also feel like this could open up the part of shooting that I enjoy when I am shooting digital, but has the soul I get from shooting B&W film in the results.
Recently I bought a F5 for cheap to try using my collection of modern glass I use with my D4. I have some really nice modern f1.4G primes, as well as good zooms with VR and wanted to try using them on film. I have been impressed with the F5, and have found being able to free myself from worrying about exposure, and even focusing, is a liberating shooting experience. I went out this past weekend with my F5 and a 85mm f1.4D and was blown away with the results. There are a few things about the F5 that still feel distracting in use, mainly the poor implementation of displaying the focus point in use, so I pulled the trigger on a "EX" rated F6 from KEH. The idea of a smaller format version of what the F5 can do, with some other improvements, makes me feel this could be something that fits what I want from a user film camera, something that takes care of the things I don't need to be dealing with and can focus on capturing images. I can see using this with a 24-120VR being able to cover almost anything, plus opens up using cool glass like my 58mm f1.4G, 105mm F2 DC etc. Being able to use iTTL flash is also very appealing as I've learned how great/easy that can be to using a flash.
I know this in some ways feels contrary to the whole analog experience of shooting film with a Rolleiflex or even my M2, but I also feel like this could open up the part of shooting that I enjoy when I am shooting digital, but has the soul I get from shooting B&W film in the results.